Wednesday, December 21, 2011

When a sense of morality looks not toward others for cues, but back to that which looks?

The other day I was thinking about what might be called social
organisers. It’s the sort of thing that meerkats and other social
animals might be described as using, where they react to where they
should be and what they should be doing, in terms of the social
structure. These sorts of cues come from the other animals in the social
group (like alpha males or alpha females) as to what to do.

Okay, so what happens when this social structure, that kinda doesn’t
exist but does (as much as stopping at traffic lights doesn’t exist…but
does)…what happens if it folds over onto the viewer itself for what to
do? Instead of consulting an external source on what actions to do, it
consults the same creature that was otherwise supposed to be observing
external sources for this info. And suddenly the creature is its own source of morality?
Seemingly. Suddenly the external, existant structure (hey, that alpha
is gunna bite you if you go near it’s food, that’s real!) becomes what
is on the inside? It might explain voices from god, knowing what’s best
for others (hello Vox!) and stuff like that. Just take a structure which
really operates from scanning for external cues but shift where it
scans to the individual who scans. Not too big a jump since its set to
look at other individuals like it already. Now, in the hurly burly of a
single mind, every cue to do something is a bit like a bull in a china
shop, setting off other thoughts (which are being scanned since were
scanning the scanner) else which is a cue, which itself sets off
thoughts…and so on.